Chapter 12 Summary

After serving 20 years as the Communist Party boss in Azerbaijan, Geidar Aliyev is removed from office because of corruption when Gorbachev takes power. Corruption, however, has dominated the Communist Party, and Aliyev is only one of thousands of people who were taking part in the corruption. The fear tactics used by Lenin and Stalin were similar to those of the mafia. The modern tactics were the same, but the goal is directed more toward getting Party bosses getting rich than preserving the Socialist ideology. Although of much of terror is gone under Brezhnev, economic corruption is at an all time high. Almost no one is left untouched by the Party's corruption. As the "godfather," Brezhnev receives "gifts" from Party leaders in every region of the Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and mostly likely Stravapol, where Gorbachev is in charge. The Soviet mafia begins its decline with...